Reversing-gear for locomotives



-(No M-odel.)

W. P. HENSZEY.

REVERSING GEAR FOR LOCOMOTIVES. No. 259,538. Patented June 13, 1882;.

Witnesses: I Inventor: W (2 f ,M haiig,

n. Perms Photo-Lithographer. washings". o. c.

lliuirnn I STATES Paranr FFICE.

'WILLIAIWI P. HENSZEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

REVERSING-GEAR FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 259,588, dated June 13,1882.

Application filed November '7, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM P. HENSZEY, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement inReversingGear for Locomotives, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in that class of mechanismfor facilitating the operation of the reversing-shaft of alocomotive-engine, which consists in the combination of a smallsteam-cylinder with a hydraulic cylinder, the piston-rod common to bothbeing connected to the said reversingshaft, and appliances for operatingcertain valves of the said cylinders being under the control of theengineer, the object of my improvements, which are fully describedhereinafter, being to give the engineer better control of the valves ofthe locomotive than he can acquire by ordinary reversing mechanism ofthe class to which my invention relates, and to afford him facilitiesfor observing the results of the manipulationof the valves of the steamand hydraulic cylinders.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the steam andhydraulic cylinders, partly in section; Fig. 2, a side view of the saidcylinders, with mechanism for operating the valves, and certainindicating devices referred to hereinafter; Fig. 3, a sectional view ofthe valve and ports of the steam-cylinder Fig. at, a sectional view ofthe valve and ports of the hydraulic cylinder; Fig. 5, an enlargedsectional view of the valve of the hydraulic cylinder, and Fig. 6 adiagram illustrating a modified arrangement of the two cylinders.

Two cylinders, A and B, are required to carry my invention into effect,the former being the steam-cylinder, and the latter I term the hydrauliccylinder, although oil is the liquid preferred for use in connectionwith it. The steam-cylinder differs in no respect from that of anordinary steam-engine, there being the usual steam-ports, a a,exhaust-port b, and an ordinary slide-valve, B, for which, however, maybe substituted a cylindrical valve, or, indeed, any other valve used inconnection with steam-engines. I prefer, however, the common slide-valveshown. The hydraulic cylinder B has a piston, d, connected to the pistonc of the steam-cylinder by the piston-rod e, a continuation, e, of thesame rod passing I through a stuffing-box, f, of the said hydrauliccylinder. Two passages, m a, communicate with the interior of thehydraulic cylinder, one at one end and the other at the opposite end ofthe same, and meet at a chest, 1), containing a valve, D, by which thesaid passages can be made to communicate with or be cut off from eachother. While different kinds of valves may be used for this purpose, Iprefer thehollow tapering plug-valve, as being simple and economical andas there are no sudden changes of temperature to interfere with thefreenvorking of a valve of this class in connection with the hydrauliccylinder, the valve, moreover, is always maintained in a thor oughlylubricated condition by the oil which has to pass through it.

It should be stated here that the rod 0 isconnected to an arm on thereversing-shaft of the locomotive, and that thevalves of the twocylinders have to be so operated that the steam admitted to thecylinderA will, in conjunction with the oil which is always in thecylinder B,.

accomplish preciselythe same duties which an engineer has to perform inmanipulating the ordinary reversing-lever.

Alever, E, is pivoted to the hydraulic cylinder at so, or to any otherfixed object, the valve-rod p of the steam-cylinder being connected toone arm of this lever, and the other arm being properly connected to alever, 02, of the valve D ofthe hydraulic cylinder. reversing-lever, H,in about the same position as the ordinary reversing-lever in the cab ofa locomotive, the short arm of the lever H being connected in thepresent instance directly to the long arm of the lever E by a rod,.'w.It will be evident, however, that mechanism other than that describedmay be used for causing the valves of the two cylinders to operatesimultaneously and permit them to be actuated by a lever, H, thecharacter of the connections in many cases depending upon the locationof the two cylinders and their relative arrange ments, for it is noteven essential that the two cylinders should be arranged in line witheach other. They may, for instance, be situated one above the other, thepiston-rods being connected to a lever, as shown in Fig. 6, and thepiston-rod of the hydraulic cylinder being connected to an arm on thereversing-shaft.

0n referring to Fig. 5 it will be seen that This permits me to use a thevalve D has three ports, 25, t, and t \Vhen the arm a has been moved toits full extent to the left, as indicated by dotted lines in thatfigure, the ports t and t will afford a communication between thepassages m and n of the hydraulic cylinder, the port t being out ofservice; and when the arm has been moved to its extreme limit to theright the ports 1? and t will afford a communication between the twopassages, the port t being out of service; and when the arm n isin avertical position, and this is its normal condition and that of thevalve, the latter will have closed both passages m and n, and the valvecan be moved in either direction to a limited extent from its normalposition without opening the com munication between the two passages.

It should be here remarked that it is not new to use a smallsteam-cylinder and bydraulic cylinder with connected pistons foroperating the valve-gear of steam-engines, and that the valves of thesteanrcylinder and by draulic cylinder have been so connected that theycould be operated simultaneously by a hand-lever.

The main feature of my improvement consists in the relation which thevalve and ports of one cylinder have to the valve and ports of the othercylinder, this relation being such that results are attained which maybe explained as follows: The force exerted to operate thereversing-shaft is due to the pressure ofsteam on the piston of thesteam cylinder, and the movement effected by this pressure of steam iscontrolled by the hydraulic cylinder. In moving the hand-lever H fromits vertical or normal position, Fig. 2, to the left, in the directionof its arrow, the slide-valve will admit steam to the cylinder beforethe communication between the two passages m and a of the hydrauliccylinder is open, and hence the piston of the said'hydraulic cylinder islocked by and between two volumes of oil in the same, and the piston-rodand reversing-shaft are consequently immovable. At this time steam hasbeen exhausted from the cylinder A on one side of the piston and livesteam is present on the opposite side, ready to perform its duty beforethe valve of the hydraulic cylinder permits it to move the piston. Buton continuing the movement of the hand-lever in the direction of thearrow the valve D will begin to open the communication between the twopassages m and n, and the pressure exerted by the steam will cause thepiston of the hydraulic cylinder to force the oil from one end of thatcylinder to the other, and permit the steam to move the rod 6 in thedirection of the arrow with a rapiditycommensurate with the extentotopening of the valve 1) to the passages 1n and n and the time taken toforce the oil through these passages, so that the engineer can effect acomparatively slow or rapid movement of the reversing-shaft, ascircumstances may suggest, by manipulating the hand-lever. Precisely thesame proceedings take place when the hand-lever is moved from itsvertical or normal position in a direction contrary to that pointed outby the arrow,when the piston and pistonrod have to be moved back forreversing the engine, and causing it to go ahead, the steam in all casesbeing admitted to the steam-cylind er ready to perform the functionsdetermined by the movement of the valve of the hydraulic cylinder. Thisresult is due to the fact that during the simultaneous movements of thevalves of the two cylinders the ports m and n of the hydraulic cylinderremain covered by its valve for a longer period than the steamports ofthe steam-cylinder, so that whatever valves may be used in connectionwith the steam and hydraulic cylinders they should hear such relation totheir ports that when the lever is moved in either direction one of thesteam-ports of the steam-cylinder shall be open to admit live steam andthe other open to the exhaust before the valve of the hydraulic cylinderpermits the fluid to pass from one end of the said cylinder to theother.

The only duty which an engineer has to perform in manipulating thehand-leverH in addition to that requiredin operating an ordinary leveris that of restoring the lever H to its normal position, after hehasmoved itin either direction, to bring about the desired result. This isfor the purpose of locking the piston of the hydraulic cylinder andarresting the movement of the reversing-shaft at the desired point. Forinstance, it'the engineer finds it necessary, after moving thehand-lever in the direction of the arrow-say half-way to its fullextentto arrest the pistons and reversing shaft, it becomes necessary to lockthe piston of the hydraulic cylinder at the desired point; and in orderto do this the engineer must, the instant this point is reached, movethe handlever to its normal position, thereby operating the valve Dandcausing it to close the communication between the two passages m 11,when the piston of the hydraulic cylinder will be locked between twovolumes of oil, and in thus restoring the hand-lever to its normalposition the valve 13 must move with it, and the steam contained in thesteam-cylinder will be exhausted. Whatever movement of the handlever ismade for accomplishing any desired extent of movement of thereversing-shaft in either direction, that movement of the handlevershould be followed the moment thedesired effect has been attained by itsrestoration to its normal position. It must be remembered, however, thatthere is no direct connection between the piston rod or mechanismconnected therewith and the hand-lever, and that the cylinder must oftenbe situated at a point whence the engineer cannot observe the actualresults of the movement of the lever, his only knowledge of theseresults being acquired by the performance of the engine. Hence it isimportant that theengineer should know at a glance, without waiting toobserve the effect of any movement of the hand-lever on the engine, thatthe duty he intended to perform by that movement has been actuallyaccomplished. For this purpose I pivot to the stand M, which is securedwithin the cab of the locomotive, a lever, W, one arm of which isconnected by any suitable devices-a rod, 70, for instanceto any part ofthe mechanism connected to the piston-rod e, the long arm of the leverXV terminating in a projection which is close to the segmental upperedge of the stand M, without being in actual contact therewith, thisupper edge of the stand being in the arc of a circle of which thepivot-pin of the lever W is the center, and this edge is so graduated toaccord with the movement of the pistons that byglancing at the pointerand the graduations the engineer can at once determine whether hismovement of the handlever has been attended with the desired results.For instance, if the hand-lever in Fig. 2 has been moved from its normalposition in the direction of the arrow to its full extent, the long armof the lever \V will make the same movement, and will remain at thepoint shown to indicate that the result has been attained after thehand-lever has been moved back to its normal position.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the steam-cylinder A andits piston, a valve for admitting steam to and exhausting it from thesaid cylinder, the hydraulic cylinder having a piston connected to thatof the steam-cylinder, a valve for opening and closing a communicationbetween the opposite ends of the said hydraulic cylinder, and mechanismfor operating both valves simultaneously, the two valves and the portsrelating thereto being constructed substantially as herein set forth, sothat on moving the valves in either direction that of the steamcylinderwill always act in advance of that of the hydraulic cylinder, asdescribed.

2. The two cylinders and their connected pistons, the valves, and thehand-lever H for operating the same, in combination with the stand M,its graduated segment, the pointinglever W, and mechanism by which thepistonrod of the two cylinders is caused to actuate the said lever, allsubstantially as specified.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. P. HENSZEY. Witnesses R. H. SANFORD, HARRY SMITH.

